“A Fiend About Women”: Gender Dynamics and American Evangelism in a Micronesian Mission During the High Tide of Pacific Imperialism, 1884-1899

This thesis describes a gendered conflict between missionaries at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) station in Chuuk, Micronesia from 1884 to 1899. A thorough investigation of the missionaries’ correspondence illustrates that conflict over the place of women in American Christianity played out internationally as well as domestically. This thesis supports an extant body of literature regarding the fragility of American masculinity at the beginning of the twentieth century, and shows how a fractured Christian community aligned based on material offerings. The thesis seeks to illustrate that the conflict in American religious circles to determine the place of women played out internationally as well as domestically. In this context, a fractured Christian community aligned based on material offerings. This dispute in Chuuk also serves to highlight the limits of ABCFM authority.

Author

• Hanebuth, John

• Missionaries
• ABCM
• Gender conflict
• Micronesia
• Chuuk

Identifier

hdl:1920/11669

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/11669